I have a confession to make.

daffodilsoup

I am a dumpster diver.

The law firm that I work at is upstairs from a popular restaurant chain. My building shares a full-size dumpster with them, and every day they throw out tons of food - breads, vegetables, fruits, you name it. It's all perfectly good - no mold, nothing, but it all goes to waste. In fact, nearly half of all the foods Americans purchase eventually goes to waste. HALF.

It's not an isolated thing, either. I used to work at a convenience store, where we would assemble and stamp breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs and other quick snacks. The moment they went "out of code", sometimes a mere two hours after it was created, they went straight into the garbage. If we made twenty sandwiches and didn't sell a single one, they all went to the trash. Every day, grocery stores and restaurants throw out tons and tons of perfectly good food because of corporate limitations that prevent them from sending it to a food bank, or allowing employees to take them home, usually due to liability.

A few weeks ago I was taking our office's trash out (the joys of being the office b*tch) when I noticed a giant bag of fresh bread on the top of the pile. Upon further investigation, it was double-bagged, had no signs of mold or contact with actual "trash", and smelled pretty heavenly. I took it home, made some sandwiches, and that was the beginning.

Now, a lot of the food in my diary is taken from the trash. It's not quite "digging", and I'm careful about disease and sanitation, but honestly most grocery stores, etc. will throw out well-packaged foods the moment they go out of code. It's incredibly wasteful, and if they're going to toss it, why not make some delicious meals out of it?

So am I the only one here? Do you think this is a sustainable way of life, or just too out there for you?

QueenJayJay

On my friend's list.

RaeLB

I watched a documentary about dumpster diving. It was about people who get the majority of their food and a lot of clothing and furniture from dumpsters. It is true we waste so much stuff!

I volunteered at a mission in the summer as a kitchen server, a lot of our food was donated by grocery stores and restaurants after they "expire". Of course, the foods were perfectly good, I ate my lunch there too. I wish more restaurants & stores would donate.

firesoforion

Wow, that's terrible on the waste thing. I volunteer for an animal shelter transporting pet food to and from the shelter, and it's all expired/out of date food or simply that which is cleared out seasonally. The majority of it is perfectly good. Safeway is supposed to recycle all its stuff but I do know there was a minor scandal where one or two stores in Colorado got caught not doing it. It seems so ridiculous to simply not give it to someone more needy... :frown:

daffodilsoup

Wow, that's terrible on the waste thing. I volunteer for an animal shelter transporting pet food to and from the shelter, and it's all expired/out of date food or simply that which is cleared out seasonally. The majority of it is perfectly good. Safeway is supposed to recycle all its stuff but I do know there was a minor scandal where one or two stores in Colorado got caught not doing it. It seems so ridiculous to simply not give it to someone more needy... :frown:

It really is, but the convenience store that I used to work at said that it's actually a liability thing - that if they donate it and someone gets sick, technically those people could take legal action. It blows that they can't just have people sign a waiver and take stuff off their hands, but I guess people sue over sillier things these days.

But hopefully people see that just because it's been tossed away doesn't make it inedible! I got a huge loaf of sourdough bread today, and it looks (and tastes) like I just got it off the shelf. This time yesterday, I would have shelled out money for it!

bulletprooff

Just keep being cautious and smart in making decisions on what to take home (you also don't want food to spoil in your car) and make sure you don't get caught

There's a chain of sandwich shops/delis in NYC that have it on their window that every night they donate their left over food from the day to NYC shelters. I think it may be The Bread Factory.

woou

My mom works at a hotel with some 5 star restaurants inside, and they throw away lots of food everyday. They used to drive the food around to local shelters until they got sued. Now they even lock their trash bins until it's time for pick up.

It really is, but the convenience store that I used to work at said that it's actually a liability thing - that if they donate it and someone gets sick, technically those people could take legal action. It blows that they can't just have people sign a waiver and take stuff off their hands

This. I was wondering why places just don't do this, but I think it's probably much easier to just throw the stuff away.

VeganPanda

Freegan!!!

Lyndi4

Freegan!!!

^^ This. I couldn't remember the name for it, but I saw a show on this. I don't know if I could bring myself to get in a dumpster, but to each his or her own. It is a shame to see so much wasted food.

sativo8339

I hate it when people waste obviously useful things. Food is the worst when so many people are hungry. My only suggestion is that you could talk to the manager of the restaurant and tell them that you noticed they were throwing away a lot of good stuff and ask if they can save it for you. I used to work at a restaurant and we hooked up a guy that came in once a week with bread and extra vegetables that we weren't going to use in recipes that week.

asyouseefit

I would do it too if I could. It's not like food has an internal clock that make it say "OMG! Today's my expiration date! I need to rot NOW!"

Laner07

I hear a lot of places will actually set the food away from the garbage in hopes that someone will take it.

alexandria412

I have totally done this and am super jealous of your situation.

maria1113

I think it's great if you can find something from dumpsters! I live in a apartment building that had small building for the dumpsters and recycling. I have actually left there stuff so people can take them if they need them. Like this one big mirror that was bit chipped in one corner or tons of hangers. They weren't there the next day, so someone found them useful
I have found some nice plastic baskets that were in mint condition, and some other useful stuff

btdublin

In the UK, Pret A Manger leave out their leftover sandwiches in separate bags for the homeless to eat. Very good idea.
In some areas there are special charities who collect and distribute these to shelters.

And also I know many students who eat very well from Pret left overs for years.... i have even seen adult business men rooting through the rubbish (trash/garbage) come 6pm on their way home!

EmCarroll1990

I don't do this, but I can totally understand why people would. I used to work for a bakery and every day we'd have TONS of leftover bread. We were located in a pretty big city which the homeless population is obviously large. I started double bagging the bread in massive clear garbage bags and leaving them outside our store at the end of the night, and sure enough every morning when I returned the whole bag would be gone. Heck, I would have brought it home myself, but figured they'd probably appreciate it a lot more than I would.

woou

I started double bagging the bread in massive clear garbage bags and leaving them outside our store at the end of the night, and sure enough every morning when I returned the whole bag would be gone. Heck, I would have brought it home myself, but figured they'd probably appreciate it a lot more than I would.

:drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

tnrown87

Love it! :laugh:

Miss♥Ivi

My ex's brother works at a Starbucks. And every night, what wasn't used, in regards to the pastries and baked goodies, would be thrown away. IN THE BOX! Sealed with the plastic wrapping. Once he got the okay to take some of it home from the manager, he started bringing home boxes and boxes of my fave, the coffee cake and the lemon cake for my ex since that was his fave. Occasionally, he'd leave the boxes on top of the dumpster's lid instead of inside in case someone passed by and wanted it. It's a shame so much food goes to waste when there are thousands of people that go to bed hungry.

nakabi

I don't find it gross at all. I think it's great that you are able to do this!

Nerdy_Rose

I say leave it for the homeless and people who really need it, or dumpster dive and take it to a shelter.

Also, if I hadn't learned to "waste" food, let it go, throw it out, give it to the homeless, etc. I'd still be overeating and wouldn't have lost 20 pounds.